Born in poverty to a single, teenage mother in Mississippi, Oprah built a career in television and, by the age of 30, was hosting the highest rated “talk show” in history. At its peak, the Oprah Winfrey Show regularly attracted thirty million viewers a week in the US alone, and was broadcast in 111 countries.

Not content with worldwide success as a talk show host, Oprah became a billionaire and the richest self-made woman in the US through starting a series of highly successful businesses. These included “O Magazine”, a monthly lifestyle journal with a readership of two million people and a website which attracts three million visitors per month. Via these and other businesses, Oprah has become a major influence over many aspects of life in the US and elsewhere, from politics to fashion.

The “Oprah Winfrey Foundation” and “Oprah’s Angel Network” have raised tens of millions of dollars for health and educational charitable projects around the world.